


Starstruck

by Sweatersandrainydays



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, Alya is Rena Rouge, F/M, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, LadyNoir - Freeform, Post-Reveal Love Square, Post-Reveal Pre-Relationship, sorry if its a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-08-13 11:50:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20173792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweatersandrainydays/pseuds/Sweatersandrainydays
Summary: Post-reveal, pre relationship. Adrien, Marinette, and Alya discovered each other’s identities after an akuma attack. Marinette is freaking out. Adrien is freaking out. Alya is freaking out and watching amused from the side. Based around the idea of what if Adrien sees Marinette as just a friend is because he doesn't think he'd have a chance with her.





	1. Chapter 1

“Alya, this is a disaster!” Adrien groaned. They'd found a spot hidden away from prying ears for lunch once Alya had seen his face. He needed to talk about the whole Ladybug/Marinette reveal with someone who wasn't Marinette, and Alya was the only other one who knew, besides Master Fu. Going to the guardian of the miraculous for relationship advice didn't seem like the thing to do though, so Alya was the obvious choice. She knew everything there was to know about Ladybug and Marinette. Alya had been expecting him. She'd witnessed Marinette’s earlier freak out before lunch. Now it was apparently Adrien’s turn. The reveal had only been yesterday, but between the freak outs Alya had had and witnessed, it felt like weeks had gone by.

“What’s so bad about Marinette being Ladybug?” Alya asked. Sure, she'd been a little upset at first. It was hard not to feel lied to when your blog was apparently dedicated to your best friend, but she'd been getting used to the whole secret identity thing being a hero herself. And she knew comic books. Keeping your identity a secret was usually superhero 101 and bad things happened when it got out. Still, being on the other end of a secret identity was a little different than she'd imagined.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng is the most amazing, creative, kind, smart, incredible person on the face of this planet. She’s so talented. She designed an album cover for Jagged Stone, got _Audrey Bourgeois_ to compliment her designs _and_ invite her to New York, _and_ she impressed my father. She’s pretty much undefeated in Ultimate Mecha Strike, makes amazing macarons, and does so much for the class. She helped Juleka break her photo curse, she helped Ivan talk to Mylene, she introduced Marc and Nathaniel, she organized that picnic on hero's day, and she protects the class every time there's an akuma even outside the suit. On top of that, she’s got straight As and is Ladybug? Marinette could probably take over the world in her sleep.”

“Well, you’re not wrong there,” Alya said. "Marinette can be pretty devious when she wants to be. I guess we're pretty lucky she's not Hawkmoth."

Adrien laughed, "She would've taken our miraculous months ago if she was."

"So that brings us back to the original question, why is it so bad that Marinette is Ladybug?"

“I’m already catastrophically in love with Ladybug,” Adrien said, as if the problem should be obvious. “Now I know she's Marinette too? Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who, as previously stated, could take over the world in her sleep? I'm hopeless with her. There's no way Marinette would like someone like me.”

Alya almost choked on her croissant. "Really?"

"I'm hopeless, Alya!" Adrien said, missing her reaction. "Having a crush on Marinette is like having a celebrity crush, it's almost impossible not to, but you know it's never going to actually happen."

"You do know Ladybug is an actual celebrity, right?"

"That's different. I'm Chat Noir, we're actually friends. I _know_ her."

"You 'actually know' Marinette too, and you're also a celebrity, actually, you're two celebrities, which is kind of weird to think about now that I said it." Alya tried to push it out of her mind. She'd had plenty of world-altering realizations that came along with Marinette being Ladybug, she didn't need to deal with the implications of Adrien being Chat Noir just yet.

"That's not the point," Adrien said. "The point is I'm more hopelessly in love with Ladybug - Marinette - Maribug - her, than ever and there's no way in a million years she'd ever like me."

Alya sighed. She'd listened to enough of Marinette's ramblings on Adrien. She did not want to sit through the same thing with Adrien, or worse, both of them going on and on about each other at the same time. The day they finally admitted their feelings to each other she was going to crack open her celebratory chocolate stash. "You know Marinette has about a thousand pictures of you up on her wall, right? You saw the special with Jagged Stone."

“It’s not – Marinette likes fashion, that’s all,” Adrien said, his face heating up.

“Sure, that’s why you’re the only one up there,” Alya pointed out. Technically, that wasn't strictly true as Marinette had also taped up a Ladyblog article she'd guest written about Chat Noir and had the class photo in frame, but still, he _was_ in every photo.

“I – she likes Luka though.”

“Sort of, look, I’m not going to say anymore because it’s not my place to tell you, but tell everything you just told me to Marinette, trust me on this one, okay?”

“Alya,” Adrien looked at her helplessly. “How do I even talk to her? I’ve barely been able to string a sentence together around her ever since we found out!”

Alya laughed, “Oh, how the tables have turned.”


	2. Chapter 2

Adrien wanted to turn around. He’d long ago accepted his fate. He wasn’t going to learn anything today. Maybe he could borrow someone’s notes after school. Marinette had really nice handwriting – no. He wasn’t ready to make a fool of himself in front of her again so soon. That morning had been disastrous enough.

As soon as he saw Marinette walking over his heart had felt it was going to pound out of his chest. He probably could’ve done serval laps around the city with the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Ladybug. She was carrying a box from her parents’ bakery. Then it hit him all over again. _I have a crush on Marinette Dupain-Cheng_. That was normal. Everyone in their class had a least a little crush on her. It was an accepted fact. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was someone you couldn’t help but love. _Love. I’m catastrophically in love with Marinette_. Because, as if Marinette wasn’t already amazing enough, she had to be Ladybug. Ladybug who came up with brilliant plans to save the day using things like a toothbrush and a paint can taped to a washing machine. Ladybug, who stood up to Hawkmoth when the entire city told her she had failed. Ladybug, who always knew when he was having a bad day. Ladybug, who, on those bad days, would bring fuzzy blankets, pastries, and card games to play on whatever rooftop they had found themselves on. Was there anything Marinette couldn't do?

“Adrien has something to ask you about,” Alya had elbowed him at that point, shaking him out of panic mode. Then she winked and went with Nino into the classroom. He had then immediately gone into a different panic mode. He was alone with Marinette. She was expecting him to say something.

“Ladyinette, I mean Maribug, Marilady – Marinette! I have to talk to you!” Adrien could feel his face heating up already.

“Yeah, Alya mentioned you wanted to ask me something?” Marinette said, looking both concerned and amused. _Right, Alya already said that_.

“I – I um, I – well the thing is I – I . . . do you like camembert?” Adrien wanted to melt into the floor. He could feel Plagg's laughter through his shirt, he'd never hear the end of this. Why couldn't he at least have blurted out something normal? It _had_ to be something about Plagg's awful smelling cheese.

Marinette raised an eyebrow, “Isn’t that the stuff Plagg eats? I remember you complaining about the smell one time on patrol.”

“I’ve got to go - Nino, notes, fencing, seeyoulaterbye!”

Adrien had bolted up the stairs and into the classroom, forgetting that Marinette would only be a few seconds behind. He'd given Alya a helpless look as he slid into his seat beside Nino. Alya had only smirked and shook her head before Marinette walked in. For the first time in his life, Adrien wished his father had scheduled a photoshoot during school hours. _But then you wouldn't see her until tomorrow, unless there was an akuma._ Seeing Ladybug had always been the highlight of his day. It was kind of nice to know he'd be able to see her more often, and maybe hang out with her outside of the mask. But that was before, when he could still form words around her and hadn't asked her if she liked camembert before running away. Maybe it was for the best, now he could prepare himself for when they had to work together as Ladybug and Chat Noir again. But then he realized it was _Marinette_ who laughed at his ridiculous puns and called him her Chaton. And it was Marinette who _sat right behind him in class_.

What if she saw the doodles in his notebook? How many hearts had he drawn around a Ladybug in the corner of his math notes? Too many (but not enough for accuracy). What if she saw the heart with LB+CN on his science binder? What if she saw the Ladybug photos he had glued on the inside cover of his planner? His tablet was probably open to the Ladyblog, but that one he could at least explain as keeping open for akuma alerts. What if there were other Ladybug doodles he was forgetting? Maybe it would be better if he just pretended to have forgotten all his stuff at home.

* * *

There was no escape for lunch even. Alya had dragged him over to their table before he could escape, _and_ she took the seat next to Nino, leaving him the seat next to Marinette. It was one of the smaller tables too. Every time their elbows brushed together, he felt like a lightning bolt had run through him. Alya kept giving him a look too. He knew she wanted him to tell Marinette how he felt, but even if he could get his words together, would it matter? Ladybug knew Chat Noir was in love with her. She liked someone else. Marinette liked someone else. He couldn’t confess to her _again_. He had to move on. Ladybug was Marinette. Marinette liked Luka. It had been hard enough trying to move on from Ladybug. Now he’d fallen in love with her all over again and she was _Marinette_. Confident, brave, put-together, amazing Marinette.

They sat in silence for the first few minutes of lunch, Alya continually shooting him no-so-subtle glances and nodding her head towards Marinette. Then she'd decided to take matters into her own hands, “Adrien, did you know Marinette runs the Chat Noir appreciation page on the Ladyblog,” Adrien's face turned bright red.

“Alya!” Marinette’s own cheeks were tinged with pink.

“The whole page was actually her idea,” Alya continued. “And she did the banner art. She thought since the whole blog is dedicated to Ladybug, it’d be nice to have something for her partner too.”

“I’m sure – I’m sure Chat Noir loves it,” Adrien managed. It was easier to pretend like he wasn’t Chat Noir, like he had before the reveal. Then he could pretend he didn’t know Ladybug was Marinette and that he wasn’t very aware of her elbow brushing against his arm every few seconds. Alya definitely picked the smaller table on purpose.

“Speaking of which, Nino promised me he’d come with me to get this photo printed for the mural Nathaniel’s working on, the one with all the heroes.”

“I did?” Alya gave him a look. “Oh, right, that. Well, see you guys in class.” Nino packed up the rest of lunch and quickly followed Alya out of the lunchroom.

“I don’t think they actually have to print out a photo,” Adrien said, bouncing his feet to try and rid himself of some of his nerves.

“Our identities are safe if that’s what you’re worried about,” Marinette said. “Although, Nino’s Carapace so I think if anyone finds out next it should be him.”

“Nino’s Carapace?” Adrien said, surprise shaking away the rest of his nerves.

“Sorry, I thought you would have guessed since you found out Alya’s Rena Rouge. They’re not exactly subtle with their flirting," Marinette gave a small laugh.

Adrien grinned, “True.”

“Hey, Adrien,” Marinette said, her tone quickly changing to be more serious. “Are we good?”

“W-what do you mean?” he squeaked, once again ready to melt into a puddle to disappear. Marinette bit her lip, her eyes glancing to Alya's abandoned seat.

“Well, you’ve been acting really different since the reveal and I know it’s a lot to take in in such a short amount of time, but I just wanted to make sure everything was fine I guess?” She looked back to him.

“Yep, no – no problems here!” he said, smiling too big. Marinette did not look reassured. He winced, he didn't want her to worry because of him. She had to know he valued their friendship more than anything, that he would do anything for her. “I’m sorry, none of my words are working today, I didn't mean to make you think something was wrong. It's just, I was already in love with Ladybug and I said I'd love whoever she was under the mask, but then it was _you_, and I didn't think I could be anymore in love than I already was but I was so, _so_ wrong. You're amazing Marinette, you stand up for people and you help them all the time, you're super talented, you protect people - inside and outside of being Ladybug. You could probably take over the world anytime you felt like it. Alya’s right, we’re lucky you’re not Hawkmoth. You would’ve gotten our miraculous months ago.”

Marinette was staring at him, cheeks tinged pink. “You’re in love with me?”

Adrien's eyes widened, realizing what he'd just said. “I’m so, so sorry Marinette. I know you like Luka and I don’t want to get in the way of that, I was just a mess and I didn’t want to tell you but then I did, and can we just forget about it please? I don’t want to lose you as a friend.”

“I’m not in love with Luka,” Marinette said.

“I – you’re not?”

She shook her head, “No, I mean, it was nice to know someone had feelings for me and was open about it, and for a while I thought - maybe, but then I got really busy with superhero stuff and then the reveal happened. Maybe it would have grown into something eventually, but no, we’re just friends.”

“Oh.”

Marinette took a breath, “Look, once I say this, it’s going to sound completely ridiculous so you can’t laugh, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I’ve had the biggest crush on you since our second day, when you handed me that umbrella. I put all these pictures of you up and I started planning our future and everything. Then Chat Noir told me he was in love with me and I turned him down because I liked this other boy, but then they other boy was you and you’re Chat Noir and it was a mess and I didn’t know what to do at the point because what was I going to say?” Marinette gave a nervous laugh. “It sounds ridiculous.”

Adrien felt like his brain had short circuited. “Wait, you – you like me?”

“Yes.”

“You, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who could take over the world in your sleep, _like_ me? Me, Chat Noir, Adrien, me?”

“Yes, you silly cat,” Marinette grinned. “I like you.”

Adrien couldn't stop smiling, "You like me. Marinette Dupain-Cheng likes me."

He was still sure she was going to be the death of him, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the end for now, hope you guys enjoyed :)  
(And thank-you to all the people who commented and encouraged me to add more to this, you guys are great)


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